10 Cool Christmas Crafts

If you are looking for a new tradition to start with your family at Christmas and get your kids involved, here are ten cool seasonal crafts that not only make great ornaments, but save you a lot of money.

Cut the paper into 1 1/2″ strips. Keep two at the 12″ length, then cut two at 10″ and one at 8 3/4″. Keep the together at one end and use the hole punch to create a hole through all five strips, about 1/2″ from the end. Place the two complimentary pieces of the eyelet on either side and hammer into place using the included hardware. Repeat the process with the opposite ends and you have yourself a cool ornament to hang.

2. 3D Christmas card

Materials

2 1/4″ circle punch

double-sided tape

heavyweight matte photo paper or card stock

narrow ribbon

scissors

Print PDF templates. Trim at gray dotted line (final card size should be 5″ x 7″). Score and fold card in half, then cut the pattern template into columns. Use a 2 1/4″ circle paper punch to make perfect circles. Using double-sided tape, attach three folded circles together back to back. Make sure you alternate patterns and colors. Again use double-sided tape to attach two ornaments to the card and complete the project by attaching strips of ribbon and a bow.

3. Elf Yourself

Using a simple printed picture of yourself and construction paper, your kids can become Santa’s little helpers. It’s up to them how they decorate their elf personas.

4. 3D Star

Materials

6 sheets of A4 paper

scissors

glue stick

stapler

hole punch

red ribbon

Take six squares of paper, each measuring 21cm x 21cm, and then follow the teardrop instruction, as before. As the paper is larger in this version, you will need to make three cuts, rather than just two — giving you three squares to curve around the central tube. Don’t forget to turn the paper after the second square before you do the third. Once you have made your six teardrop shapes, assemble them in a star shape by laying them in a circle, bottom points touching. Staple at the place where all six points meet. Then, working around the circle, staple each teardrop to the next. Punch a hole at the top and thread a ribbon hanging loop.

5. Winter Wonderland

miniature animals or people (sold in craft stores or online at bjcraftsupplies.com)

1-inch-wide mirror

tacky glue

fine glitter

pushpin

monofilament

several craft beads

Trace the rim of the cup onto the underside of the poster board and cut out the circle. Cut out a circle of batting snow that’s the same diameter as the cup and set it atop the shiny side of the poster board circle. Separate or snip the batting where you’d like to position the trees, figurines, and mirror pond. Glue the base of each item to the poster board, then smooth or fluff the snow around them as needed. Sprinkle the scene with fine glitter. Use the pushpin to poke a hole in the center of the cup bottom. Thread a craft bead onto a 12-inch length of monofilament. Gather the ends together, letting the bead fall to the center of the line, and thread them up through the hole from inside the cup. String a few more beads onto the doubled line (outside the cup) and then knot the ends to form a loop. Apply a line of glue along the edge of the poster board circle. Press the cup, upside down, atop the glue and hold it in place for 20 seconds or so. During the first 10 minutes of drying time, occasionally check the seal and press down gently on the cup, if required. Let the glue cure for a full day before hanging the ornament.

6. Reindeer antlers

Materials

the side of an old cardboard box

a sheet of a4 card (which we cut into 2 long strips)

sticky tape

stickers to decorate

To create the headband, stick the two strips of (A4) card together using sticky tape. For our antlers, draw a (rough) antler shape on card, then cut it out to use as a template on a cardboard box. Decorate the antlers. Attach the to the headband with sticky tape.

7. Felt Christmas Tree Cutout Ornament

Materials

freezer paper

wool felt: red, light green, green, brown, and aqua

pinking shears

fabric glue

baker’s twine

Trace patterns onto tracing paper and cut out. Using an iron on medium heat, adhere freezer paper, to each color of felt. Cut out shapes, using pinking shears to cut bottom edge of each tree branch. Peel off freezer-paper. Glue tree shapes to red oval. Glue a hanging loop of baker’s twine to the back of the red oval. Glue ornament to aqua felt, enclosing ends of hanging loop, and cut around shape using pinking shears.

8. Holiday Cup Puppets

Materials

popsicle sticks

dixie cups

construction paper

glue

scissors

Easy! Using different color paper, simply cur our various faces and stick them to the popsicle sticks using the glue gun. Decorate the cups in the same way.

9. Wool Woodlands Stocking

Materials

colored tailor’s chalk pencil

wool fabric

2 mm wool felt

pinking shears

cutting mat

screw punch

sewing machine and sewing supplies

fabric glue, such as magna-tac

felt animal

Print stocking and cuff templates and cut out. Using tailor’s chalk, trace smaller stocking template onto 2 pieces of wool; trace larger template onto felt. Use scissors to cut wool and pinking shears to cut felt. Trace cuff template onto 2 pieces of wool. Cut out, using pinking shears for bottom edge. Create an eyelet pattern on bottom edge of cuffs: Starting at the bottom, punch 3 rows of holes, using the screw punch’s 3 settings (smallest to largest). Assemble stocking layers with felt in the middle and cuffs on each end. Align cuff and 1 layer of wool at top, and stitch 1/4 inch from top edge. Stitch remaining 3 layers in same manner. Pin stocking together. Sew around stocking, 1/4 inch in from edge of wool piece, leaving top open. Cut a 1-by-8-inch strip of felt. Gather ends together to form a loop for hanging, and sew inside the stocking, at the back, toward the top. Glue felt animal ornament to stocking.

10. Tea-light holders

Materials

Jam jars

Translucent white paper

Ribbon or string

Newspaper or wrapping paper scraps

Tea lights

Wrap a strip of translucent white paper (preferably with a snowflake design) around an old jam jar, securing with a length of ribbon or string. Cut simple motifs like a heart or sprig of holly out of newspaper or scraps of wrapping paper and tuck behind the string, then place a tea light in the jar.

If you are looking for a new tradition to start with your family at Christmas and get your kids involved, here are ten cool seasonal crafts that not only make great ornaments, but save you a lot of money.